Mission planning generally involves the use of sand tables, physical models and paper-based documents, maps and overlays to plan missions for a variety of applications, such as, for example, defense and intelligence applications, first responder applications, commercial applications, and the like. Defense and intelligence applications include, for example, mission planning and training, wargaming, after action review, etc. First responder applications include, for example, situation awareness, hazardous route planning, emergency response rehearsal, etc. Commercial applications include, for example, supply chain and logistics, shipping and delivery planning, etc.
These mission planning methods can be costly and time consuming, do not necessarily support real-time testing and review, and may require extensive rework when missions need to be modified or iterated. While certain aspects of mission planning have been implemented in software programs installed on individual computers, there is a need for an interactive electronic sand table that allows users to create, plan and fully manage missions and logistical routing in a collaborative geospatial environment.